Arquemino Lopes Junior: The growing variety of products, the continuing boom in e-commerce and the increasing complexity of logistics processes require intelligent automation strategies. Companies need to work more efficiently and cost-effectively in order to remain competitive in this environment. Bin picking is the automated hand of intralogistics. It enables companies to remove a wide variety of objects precisely and reliably from chaotic or organized containers. This technology makes it possible to optimize the flow of materials and avoid bottlenecks in the logistics chain.
Arquemino Lopes Junior: The big challenge is to develop gripping systems that can flexibly and reliably grip a variety of different items. A system that can really grasp any object is like searching for the Holy Grail. The variety of product geometries and materials poses an enormous challenge for automated gripping. If the bin-picking process does not run smoothly, it quickly becomes a bottleneck in intralogistics. The risk here is that the material flow comes to a standstill and the overall system loses performance. On the positive side, companies that successfully integrate intelligent bin picking into their processes will take a decisive step forward. They not only optimize their efficiency, but also create the basis for surviving in a market that demands ever faster and more flexible solutions.
Arquemino Lopes Junior: Online retail is certainly one of the biggest drivers of the current challenges in intralogistics. The pandemic has given a massive boost to e-commerce, and although growth has leveled off somewhat since then, the trend remains positive and sustained. This means that the steadily increasing number of orders is also generating significantly higher processing requirements in logistics. This development is accompanied by a growing variety of products, which means that more different product geometries and materials have to be processed in the bin picking process.
Our expectations as consumers also play a decisive role. We expect ordered products to arrive quickly – preferably on the same day. This expectation presents companies with the additional challenge of processing the already high volumes in e-commerce even faster. This is precisely where it becomes very clear that intelligent and automated bin picking is essential to ensure efficiency, speed and reliability.
Arquemino Lopes Junior: From our point of view, three technological developments in particular have proven to be game changers for bin picking: the influence of AI and machine learning, advances in image processing and object recognition, and the use of real-time data. These have significantly improved the precision and flexibility of the systems.
The most important goal is still to calculate the perfect gripping points and to develop the gripping system at the so-called "end of arm" as efficiently as possible. At Festo, we bring all our expertise in pneumatic, electrical and digital automation to bear in finding solutions to reduce errors to a minimum.
With our broad portfolio of gripper technologies, we can cover almost any application. I would particularly like to highlight our Customized Solutions. These are the result of targeted cooperation with our customers in order to develop customized gripper solutions. In our "Grip it" development initiative, we even have a transnational team working together that specializes in the development of special grippers.
GripperAI is an innovative software solution from Festo that has been specially developed for bin picking. It enables bin-picking robots and handling systems to pick up disorganized objects of different shapes precisely and flexibly. Thanks to artificial intelligence, the solution learns autonomously, adapts flexibly to new tasks, and thus optimizes the efficiency of your intralogistics. GripperAI can be easily integrated into existing automation environments. Get an overview of the most relevant aspects and interesting insights in our White Paper.
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